During the Second World War, when vast numbers of people were held in captivity for years, the art of escape and evading capture in enemy territory reached new levels of efficiency and ingenuity. Here covert operations historian Ian Dear explores the extensive planning behind and daring execution of 18 great escapes made by Allied, German, and Japanese troops during World War II. He explains how prisoners were assisted by cleverly disguised equipment, from concealable maps to serrated wire bootlaces, as well as underground networks of escape routes, resistance organizations, and safe houses.